QOTD: January 24

[sheila]

Are your motivations for doing something most likely to be economic, social, ethical or environmental?

(ie, when you choose what kind of car you buy, when you decide where to shop, what to buy etc)

[~Deborah~]

WOW..that is a deep question. Can't think at this time of the morning....be back later with my answer:lol:.

[Dennis]

They all factor into it, but I'd say economical gets first priority.

[sheila]

I think it is a toss up between environmental & economic in the first row. One is usually balanced against the other here. For example, Stagg won't consider a hybrid car right now because the cost savings just aren't there, but the environmental impact of any car we do consider is an important factor in whether we'll keep considering it.


Social often plays a large role in what I wear.

[LISA]

For me and dh it's economical..for our friends it's social :rolleyes: it's all Beamers,Volvo's and Hummers which I don't get :dunno: I get in the car I turn the key I step on the gas and go that's all I care about, not the name tag attached to the key ring. As far as enviromental eh the thought does cross my mind for a split second... we are thinking of buying a diesel truck for our next vehicle because diesel is supposed to go further than gas and is ( at the moment I think) cheaper than gasoline.

[Shanna]

Are your motivations for doing something most likely to be economic, social, ethical or environmental?

It depends. My car is more eco-friendly than some, less than others. The choice on my vehicle was more economical than environmental, though. I have 3 kids in carseats so that sorta limits what I can buy.

As far as food goes, I tend to go more ecologically-friendly in the past year or so. I buy way more organic/natural foods and my family has benefitted from that change. I also coupon-shop like nobody's business :lol: I saved $42 in coupons last week :biggrin:

Clothing - typically more socially-economically based. I can't afford to buy 4 wardrobes of organic cotton clothing for me and the kids, but I do try to buy natural fabrics more than polyesters/nylons, etc. I also shop the clearance sales at the end of the season to buy ahead for next year and I shop garage sale/consignment stores as well. I don't feel any need to pay $40 for a brand new, brand name outfit when I can find the same brand and more than likely the same outfit at a consignment shop or our big TWins Club garage sale for $5. :dunno:

Appliances/home-items: Mostly their energy-cost factor. I'm not so big on how my appliances look as to how they perform and how much bang I can get for my energy buck :nod:

[Nichole]

I'd say I also have ecological/environmental and economic as my top priorities. I try to go as ecologically friendly as I can afford to go. Our new car purchase was a balance of those two things. New appliances will be the same thing. Quality is also factored into my major purchases, which I feel falls under the environmental heading because I try to buy things that won't have to be replaced often.

[Alysia]

I think economical is usually what drives most things for us. And environmental second.

[magoo]

I try to go as ecologically friendly as I can afford to go.
That's a good way of putting it. :nod:

[Melissa]

I consider economic factors and environmental ones as well. Like others have said, I try to get the most bang for my buck and that doesn't necessarily mean buying the cheapest item, I want something that I won't have to replace often.

For example, hybrid cars, the problem with me getting one of those is, economically there isn't a pay off and secondly, unless a person does the majority of their driving in the city with a lot of stop and go, you aren't saving on gasoline. Lastly, when those batteries die or you get rid of the car, you aren't really saving the environment, like other batteries they need to be disposed of in a particular way and they do impact the environment that way.

Plug-in cars may seem better, but unless your area manufactors electricity through wind farms or solar energy, the means of creating electricity is still through fossil fuels or diverting major bodies of water. Again, not saving the environment. Additionally, some cars only go 40 some miles each plug in (of 7-8 hours). So instead of paying $5 for gas to go that 40 miles, you are paying how much more to generate electricity.

Anyway, if there are things that I can purchase that can be economical and environmental I will purchase those items. Ethical, that is tough, are we talking socially ethical (slave labor, unfair working conditions?). I don't have a circle of friends that really cares about designer handbags, jewelry (well there is one person but we ignore that stuff) and I'm not into all of that because economics are so much more important to me.

[MrsPeacefrog]

I definately shop economically with a splash of environmental and a dab of ethical.

It has to be a pretty bad ethical dilemma for me to boycott something, but I do take that into account. I will look at the environmental factor and then work out the cost difference, if it's not that much greater I go environmental, but if it's a ridiculous difference economical wins every time! :nod:

[sabrina]

Honestly, we go economical. Now economical doesn't mean the cheapest of something for us. It means whatever is going to save us the most money overall in the long run. For example, our washer and dryer. We bought the best we could afford that was a front loader and would save us money because it uses less water and less energy to dry the clothes. Needless to say it was also a bit of an ecologically friendly purchase as well. When we have to replace the water heater, furnace, air conditioner, etc. we will look at the overall picture as well. We traded our Yukon in for a Taurus to save on gas. The taurus is also a flex fuel vehicle and can use E85 fuel. Right now E85 here is really not very cheap and the fuel efficiency is not great with E85 so we don't use it.